♦ AKQ1096♦J10976RHO
bids 1♥. LHO raises to 2♥ and this is passed to you, what

♣ -♣
J72do you do?

Hand CHand DWhat do you open with
Hand C?

♠ -♠ -

♥
9♥
9What do you open
with Hand D?

♦ AKQ86♦ AKQJ10

♣
AK87543♣ AKQJ543

Hand EHand FWith Hand E RHO opens 1♣, what do you bid?

♠K754♠
J9

♥ AKQ4♥AK3With Hand F you open 1♣
and partner responds 1♠,

♦J5♦ A6what do you bid?

♣
J92♣ AK10652

Bidding Sequence Quiz

G1♥pass3♥passYou are playing RKCB

4NTpass5NT/6♦/6♥What is a 5NT, 6♦ or 6♥ response?

H1♥pass3♥passYou are playing RKCB

5♣What
is the 5♣ bid?

J1♣pass1♠pass

2NTHow
many ♣’s does opener promise? 2,3,4 or more?

K1♣pass1♠pass

3NTWhat
sort of hand does 3NT show?

L4NTWhat does a 4NT opening bid mean?

Play of the suitBoard 3 from Monday 1st

I was asked how to play the ♠ suit on this deal, and what the odds are of dropping a singleton or
doubleton honour if you play the ♠A first. Now I do not pretend to be an expert on play, but I said that I
would play the ♠9 from dummy and
run it if not covered. If this loses, I re-enter dummy and finesse again.

Dealer:♠KQ2WestNorthEastSouth

South♥Q92---pass

E-W vul♦ QJ87passpass1♠pass

♣ 10642♠pass3♥(1)pass

4♠(2)all
pass

♠9873N♠ AJ1065

♥ A10WE♥ J863(1)A help suit game try, which can also be

♦K104S♦5natural.

♣
9875♣ AKQ(2)With♥A10 and 4 trumps, accepting is fine.

♠ 4

♥
K754South apparently led the ♦A and switched to a ♣, declarer

♦ A9632was reluctant to use up his ♥A entry and so played the ♠A.

♣ J32Is this a reasonable play of
the suit?

.

I put
the cards into the Suit Play Calculator on the website, and it ran the ♠9. If this lost it
then re-entered dummy and finessed again. I put the missing cards into the Suit
Split Calculator on the website and it came up with the table below. The problem
with this recommended line is that there is only one quick entry to dummy, but
there is a second with a ♥ ruff and a ♥ can be pitched from
hand on the ♦K before taking the 2nd ♠ finesse.

No

W

E

Probability

Times

Total

1

-

kqxx

4.783

1

4.783

2

x

kqx

6.217

2

12.435

3

xx

kq

6.783

1

6.783

4

q

kxx

6.217

1

6.217

5

qx

kx

6.783

2

13.565

6

qxx

k

6.217

1

6.217

7

k

qxx

6.217

1

6.217

8

kx

qx

6.783

2

13.565

9

kxx

q

6.217

1

6.217

10

kq

xx

6.783

1

6.783

11

kqx

x

6.217

2

12.435

12

kqxx

-

4.783

1

4.783

And what happened? Three pairs were in 4♠, this declarer went -1 and the other two made
the contract. The other three pairs were in 3♠ with just one making 10 tricks.

(RKC) Blackwood with a voidBoard 28
from Monday 1st

One pair ended up in an
undignified final contract of 6NT on these unsuitable (for NT) hands. I won’t
give full auctions; but concentrate on the situation when ♠’s have been agreed, both North
and South are in a game-forcing auction, that North has shown very good ♦’s and 4 ♠’s and that South has shown ♠’s and values in ♥’s and that the last bid was 3♠ before the other player uses RKCB.
I am not necessarily suggesting that these are the best bidding sequences, but am
using the deal to demonstrate what to do with a useful void in a Blackwood
situation. I have interchanged the ♠J and ♠Q and the ♥Q and ♥10 from the actual deal for
convenience/clarity.

Dealer:♠KJ87Option
A: - South asks

West♥KQ2WestNorth(A)EastSouth

N-S vul♦ AKQ1096…3♠pass4NT

♣ -pass5NT(1)pass7♠(2)

all pass

♠643N♠ 109

♥ 65WE♥ 109743Option B: - South asks

♦J854S♦2WestNorth(B)EastSouth

♣
10974♣ AKQ87………3♠

♠ AQ52pass5♣(3)pass5NT(4)

♥
AJ8pass7♠all
pass

♦ 73

♣ J653

Option A:(1)What
did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? If you have no
agreement about how to show a useful void then it’s best to bid normally, so 5♥, showing two
keycards without the ♠Q. However, with a useful void it’s usually best
to show it. What you do not do is indicate it as an additional ace! I play that
5NT here shows 2 (or 4) keycards and a useful void.

(2)South knows (from previous bidding) that the void is ♣’s and so bids the
grand.

Option B:(3)There are options here, but normal RKCB is a
terrible bid with a void. If you want to find out about keycards, then a jump
to five of a suit (when 4NT would be RKCB) is Exclusion RKCB – showing a void
in the suit bid and asking for keycards outside of that suit.

(4)2
keycards plus the ♠Q – the same steps as normal RKCB but obviously
one bid higher here as 5♣ was used to ask instead of 4NT.

And what happened? Two pairs bid the excellent
7♠, there were various other contracts such as 6♠, 5♠,
4♠ and 6NT-4.

The bottom lines: -

-It’s up to
your partnership if you want to show useful voids after RKCB, but if you do –
then do NOT do so by indicating an extra ace.

When the opponents have found a
fit and stop bidding at the two level, then it’s
usually right to make a noise in the pass-out seat.

Dealer:♠
J9Table
A

West♥Q9853WestNorthEast(B)South

N-S vul♦ KQ42passpasspass1♣

♣ 54pass1♥pass2♥

passpasspass(1)

♠Q653N♠ A1042

♥ K62WE♥ JTable B

♦85S♦J10976WestNorthEast(B)South

♣
AQ63♣ J72passpasspass1♣

♠ K87pass1♥pass2♥

♥
A1074passpassdbl(1)pass

♦ A22♠3♥(2)3♠(3)all pass

♣ K1098

Table A:(1)What
did you bid with this East hand B in this week’s quiz? Virtually everybody in
the room lazily passed here, presumably hoping that there was a bad ♥ split for declarer.

Option B:(1)This East (and I believe two others) found
this double, the answer to question B – it’s usually best not to let the
opponents play in a known fit at the two level, especially if you are non-vulnerable.

(2)This is totally correct – North has one more trump
than already shown and with a presumed 9-card fit should compete to the 9 trick level.

(3)East knows that it’s probably only an 8-card ♠ fit, but with a ♥ singleton it should
play well and being non-vulnerable it’s quite acceptable to go one above the
level of The Law.

And what happened? The cards lay well for E-W
and 3♠ made exactly for the E-W top. The two other
East’s who competed with a double failed to bid on over the opponents’ 3♥ and all of the N-S’s who bid 2♥ or 3♥
made 9 tricks except for one who somehow made 10 tricks. The bottom lines: -

-If the
opponents have found a fit and stop bidding at the two-level, then it’s usually
best to compete.

-Obey The
Law in competitive auctions. And if you feel that the opponents are going to
make their contract, then you can usually safely bid one more than The Law
dictates if you are non-vulnerable.

Dave’s ColumnHere is Dave’s
input involving the bidding.

NorthSouthYou are
South, declarer in 6♠.

♠AQ8♠KJ964Would
you prefer to be in 6♥?

♥ KQ1053♥
A74West leads the ♣4 which
East wins with the ♣A and

♦ Q9♦ AKJ5returns
a ♣. You ruff and play a ♠ to dummy’s ♠A,

♣ 1062♣ Qbut
East discards a ♣. How do you continue?

Now would you prefer to be in 6♥?

Dave’s Column
answerBoard
23 from Wednesday 4th

Dealer:♠AQ8WestNorthEastSouth

South♥KQ1053---1♠

Both vul♦ Q9pass2♥(1)pass3♥

♣ 1062pass4♠(2)pass4NT(3)

pass5♦(4)pass5♥(5)

♠
107532N♠
-pass6♥(6)pass6♠

♥ J92WE♥ 86all pass

♦74S♦108632

♣
K84♣ AJ9753(1)Game forcing, playing 2/1

♠KJ964(2)Setting
♠’s as trumps and showing a minimum

♥ A74(fast arrival).

♦ AKJ5(3)RKCBwith ♠’s
as trumps

♣ Q(4)One keycard

(5)Do you have the ♠Q?

(6)Yes, and the ♥K (but not a cheaper king)

The expert South worked out that he could make
the contract if West had started out with exactly 5323 distribution.

He cashed three ♥ tricks and dummy’s ♦Q, played a ♦ to his ♦A and led the ♦K. If West had ruffed, declarer would have over-ruffed with dummy,
trumped the ♣10 in his hand and taken the last three tricks with a high crossruff. So West discarded his ♣K. But South threw dummy’s ♣10 and continued with the ♦J from hand. West ruffed perforce, dummy over-ruffed
and declarer had the rest with high trumps.

In theory, 6♥ is worse than 6♠,
and here a lot worse if East is clairvoyant and desperate to get his name in
the news-sheet. Then he would have led the ♣9 (a Lavinthal signal), which West would win with the ♣K and shift to a ♠ for the lethal ruff.

Terry’s Comment. Unfortunately the author does not say why 6♠ is in theory better. I would have thought that
6♥ is better as you can then take the ♣ ruff in the short trump hand.

Let’s suppose that North
does not double a ♦ bid, then there are four suits for South to
choose from for the opening lead. And none is totally obvious.

With a ♣
lead, declarer gets a free finesse and makes the contract comfortably. After
drawing trumps he leads a low ♠ to the ♠J and if the opposition do
not take their ♠A he actually makes 13 tricks.

A ♦
lead also makes things easy, allowing South to discard
the ♣10 and claim 12 tricks.

With a ♠
lead declarer plays the ♠J from dummy and is
ensured of a ♠ entry to the ♦’s for the discard of the ♣10.

The best lead for the defence
is a trump, but North must be alert and forget about ‘third hand plays high’. If
he goes up with the ♥J then declarer has
the ♥10 as an entry to the ♦A for a ♣
discard. North must play a low ♥
to the first trick, keeping the ♥J over dummy’s ♥10, and declarer isthen held to 11 tricks. Having got this right, North
also has to stay alert and duck both the ♠K
and ♠Q when declarer plays them.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 6NT=, 6♥=, 6♥-1, 4NT+2,
5♥+1, 4♥+2 three times and 6♣-3.

A Huge two-suited
handBoard 3
from Friday 3rd

Dealer:♠
A9862Table
A

South♥72West(E)NorthEastSouth(C)

E-W vul♦ 10972---1♣(1)

♣ Q62♣(2)pass2♥3♦(3)

3♥4♦pass5♦(4)

♠K754N♠ QJ103dblall
pass

♥ AKQ4WE♥ J108653

♦J5S♦43Table B

♣
J92♣ 10WestNorthEastSouth(C)

♠ ----2♣(1)

♥
9pass2♦pass3♣

♦ AKQ86pass3♠pass4♦

♣ AK87543pass5♦pass6♦

all pass

Table C

WestNorthEastSouth(C)

---4NT(1)

pass5♦(5)pass6♦(6)

all pass

Table A:(1)What
did you open with this South hand C in this week’s quiz? It has 11 playing tricks and so a strong 2♣ is reasonable; but
with a ♠ void 1♣ will not get passed
out and I prefer this slow approach.

(2)What did you bid with
this West hand E in this week’s quiz? This West chose a Michaels Cue Bid,
showing the majors. But I need at least 9 cards in the majors and I will also only
bid Michaels if weak or very strong. With this hand I would pass as double
should also be playable in ♦’s.

(3)A reverse and
obviously forcing and very strong.

(4)With 11 playing tricks and support from
partner this is a bit feeble. Think about it; partner
presumably has 4+ ♦’s and so now
look at the ♣ suit. If partner has 3+ ♣’s then the suit
should run and if partner has less you should be able to ruff them good. So
there should be 12 tricks or 13 if partner
has the ♥A (or they don’t lead a ♥).

Table B:(1)This South decided to open 2♣, Ok if that’s your
style.

Table C:(1)Now this is an interesting opening! What does
it (sequence L) mean? “Standard” is that it asks for the suit of partner’s ace
(if he has one). It’s quite a sensible bid although I would like the minor suits
to be more solid, like Hand D which is a classic 4NT opener.

(5)North did not know the meaning of the bid and so
answered to Blackwood.

(6)Apparently South had a
different meaning for his 4NT bid – ‘bid your best minor’. I’ve never heard of
this meaning but it luckily got to the correct contract played by the correct
hand (no ♥A lead).

And what happened? 6♦**+1, 6♦+1,
6♦= twice, 5♦*+1
and 5♣+1.

The bottom lines: -

-This South
hand has enormous playing strength and should make slam opposite most dummies.
If you take it slowly and find that partner has ♦ support then you should reach 6♦ easily.

The 4NT
opening

♠ -The
4NT opening uses up a lot of bidding space and needs to be very

♥ 9specific. The normally accepted use of the bid is asking
partner to bid

♦ AKQJ10the suit of his
ace if he has one.

♣
AKQJ543

Responses are 5♣ = no ace; 5♦/♥/♠/6♣ = that ace; 5NT = two aces.

A 4NT opener usually has two
aces, a void, and one or two solid suits with just one singleton outside loser.

This hand D is typical. Open
4NT; if partner responds 5♥ then bid 7♣; if partner
responds 5♣ or 5♠ then bid 6♣; if partner responds 5NT then bid 7NT.

The Club Championships

Here are the latest standings in the club competitions.

Gold Cup = Best 30

Silver Plate = Best 10

Bronze Medal = Best 5

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1887.5 Hans Vikman

1846.0 Sally Watson

1843.9 Dave Cutler

1836.8 Lewis Berg

1825.1 Janne Roos

1812.1 Lars Gustafsson

1803.9 Bob Pelletier

1790.3 Ivy Schlageter

1727.5 Jan v Koss

675.2 Hans Vikman

663.6 Sally Watson

661.8 Dave Cutler

661.1 Jeremy Watson

653.4 Lewis Berg

651.0 Lars Gustafsson

643.6 Ivy Schlageter

642.9 Janne Roos

640.6 Derek & Gerard

639.0 Tomas Wikman

347.2 Hans Vikman

342.3 Dave Cutler

341.1 Jeremy Watson

341.1 Sally Watson

339.7 Lars Gustafsson

335.8 Lewis Berg

335.3 Ivy Schlageter

329.9 Derek & Gerard

327.4 Tomas Wikman

326.2 Bob Pelletier

Chicken!Board
19 from Friday 3rd

There was a humorous post-mortem after the end of play at table A.
Somebody called North ‘chicken’ for bidding only 2NT at (3). North said that
South was chicken for not biding 3NT when holding the ‘important’ ♣Q. So who really
was the chicken? My opinions follow: -

Dealer:♠
J9Table
A

South♥AK3WestNorth(F)EastSouth

E-W vul♦ A6---pass

♣ AK10652pass1♣pass(1)1♠(2)

pass2NT(3)passpass(4)

♠A4N♠ KQ108pass

♥ 8654WE♥ QJ7

♦9872S♦KQ10Table B

♣
743♣ J98WestNorth(F)EastSouth

♠ 76532---pass

♥
1092pass1♣pass(1)1♠(2)

♦ J543pass3NT(3)all pass

♣ Q

Table A:(1)This
hand, with great intermediates, is just about worth a 1NT opener; but with no ♣ stop pass now is
best; one player bid 1NT and went -3 for 300 for a near bottom.

(2)It’s a matter of
partnership style if you bid or pass in a situation like this, I too would bid
1♠.

(3)What did you bid
with this North hand F in this week’s quiz? This 2NT shows 18-19 and is an
underbid in my opinion. Another popular (3 time choice) bid was 3♣, which I also think
is an underbid. I would bid as table B.

(4)Pretty obvious with
just 4 points.

Table B:(3)This North found the best bid,
3NT shows a good hand with a good long minor.

And what happened? 3NT=, 2NT+1, 3♣+1, 3♣=
twice and 2NT (by East) -3.

At Table A
somebody suggested that North should have bid 3NT at (3). North dismissed this
opinion and said that South should have raised to 3NT because he had the ♣Q. What’s more, I think that North was actually
being serious!! This is total nonsense of course; South has scraped up a
bid on 4 points and has no reason to know that partner has a good 6-card ♣ suit (indeed, the 2NT rebid denies this).
North could easily have a 3433 19 count and a raise to 3NT by South would be
preposterous. 3NT is lucky to come home of course (losing just 4 ♠ tricks when the ♣’s break 3-3), but North should bid it once South has responded.

The bottom lines: -

-With a good hand and a good
long minor, rebid 3NT rather than 2NT.

Bidding
Quiz Answers

Hand A:5NT. 5♥
is the normal response, but there is a way to show a useful void and the
recommended method is that 5NT shows 2 or 4 keycards and a 6-level bid shows 1
or 3 keycards (both with a useful void of course).

Hand B:Double. The opponents have
found a fit and have stopped biding at the two level. So
compete; you too probably have a fit.

Hand C:1♣
or 2♣. I note that one player opened 1♦ and then jumped in ♣’s – this is wrong as it lies about the
distribution of the minor suits. The hand has 17 HCPs and 11 playing tricks and easily qualifies for 2♣, but I personally prefer to bid naturally with
two-suiters like this and I would open 1♣.

Hand D:4NT. Obviously 2♣ is reasonable, but this is a rare example of
the 4NT opening bid – it asks partner to bid the suit of his ace. If partner
has the ♥A you bid 7♣. If partner has no ace or the useless ♠A you bid 6♣
and if partner has two aces you
bid 7NT.

Hand E:Pass. I don’t like a 2♣Michaels cue bid for two reasons: (a) it’s not
the correct strength (either preemptive or very strong), and (b) I require 9-10
cards in the majors. So double? I don’t like this with
a doubleton ♦. I would pass but would not argue with 1♥ if you sometimes overcall with good 4-card
suits.

Hand F:3NT. With a 6-card minor headed by the AK, this
hand is far too good for a non-forcing 3♣ or 2NT. AK10xxx is NOT 7 points, it is far, far more. Any bid
other than 3NT is feeble.

Bidding Sequence Answers

G1♥pass3♥pass(a)5NT = two keycards and a useful void.

4NTpass5NT/6♦/6♥(b)6♦ = 1 or 3
keycards and a ♦ void

(c)6♥ = 1 or 3 keycards and
a void in a suit higher ranking than trumps, so in this case a ♠ void.